two great-aunts

[DumbAss Tanker]

Frank, I realize to "O" and "E" pay grade stuff is probably an impenetrable mystery to anyone outside the military.  Let me put Thor's list in equivalent terms used by the Army, Marines, and Air Force:

Ensign= O-1  ----> Second Lieutenant (one gold bar, or "Butterbar")
Lt(JG)= O-2  ----> First Lieutenant (one silver bar)
LT= O-3 --------> Captain (two connected silver bars, or "Railroad tracks")
LtCdr= O-4 -----> Major (gold oak leaf.  Kind of round, doesn't look all that much like an oak leaf)
Commander= O-5 --------> Lieutenant Colonel (silver oak leaf)
Captain= O-6 ------------> Colonel (silver eage, in slang a "Bird colonel")
Rear Admiral (Lower Half)= O-7 --> Brigadier General (one silver star)
Rear Admiral(Upper Half)= 0-8 ---> Major General (two silver stars)
Vice Admiral= O-9 --------------> Lieutenant General (three silver stars)
Admiral= O-10 ------------------> General (four silver stars)

The last of the five-stars passed away some time ago, given the relatively smaller size of postwar forces even at the height of later conflicts there was never a need to replace them as they aged and departed the scene of active military affairs.

The terminology and symbology of the system is fraught with historical oddities, conflicts, and cultural artifacts (Why for instance is gold higher than silver in everything except our military rank symbols?), the entire pay grade system is essentially a rationalization of a system that just grew out of the merger of many different military traditions from the time of Washington and von Steuben to the late 19th Century.  There are many oddities of usage that go beyond rank, too involved to delve into here (for instance, 'Commander' is a rank in the Navy and Coast Guard, but a position in the Army; the sea services mainly use 'Commanding Officer' as the term for the position, and the Air Force might use either one, apparenly depending on what day of the week it is...or something).

[franksolich]

You know, Tanker, I wish I could take myself back 25-30 years, back to that farmhouse in the forest, in northeastern Pennsylvania.  There were military things all over the house.  Not displayed, not in order, but just there, because "there" was apparently where they were supposed to be.

But damn, I never paid attention; I was more into people, not things.

Of course, it's all long gone now, the family farm having been developed into some sort of exclusive housing development (it's in the heart of a Pennsylvania state forest, remember), and probably most things in it hauled away to thrift stores, as my cousins weren't into military things any more than I was at the time.

The ancients--the great-aunts and great-uncles--were all gone by the mid-1980s, and their children, the aunts and uncles, slowly declining into senility a short time thereafter.  And so there's nothing left.

I had thought that with the advent of the internet, with all its archives, and my possession of the Army serial number of the older great-aunt, that I would get somewhere, but alas I never got anywhere.  It would've been interesting to see at least one of the military files on the great-aunts.

The younger of the great-aunts, the one who had been in the Navy, to her dying day insisted upon wearing an old Navy cloak or frock (apparently attire for Navy nurses), and there was one silver thing on it, but whether a star or something else, I have no idea.

The older of the great-aunts, the one who had been in the Army, and who never degenerated into senility, dying with a clear head, used to be visited by official Army personnel (the place after all was a great place for hunting) much younger than her; during which time, at least in these eyes, they treated her with an extraordinary deference and respect.  They knew her, of course, but it was also as if they were in awe of her.